If you have followed this blog since before the 2008 election, you know I was not a particular fan of John McCain’s politics and political behavior. I have long believed that his reputation as a “maverick” was based more on appearances than on actions.

Nevertheless, he remained one of the few men and women of principle in a party that seems to have abandoned even the pretense of principle. Badtux points out that he did from time to time choose to stand up for polity above party, perhaps most notably during the last two years, which alone makes him stand out from his fellow Republicans, even as his maverick reputation was overblown and undeserved.

I find it puzzling that John McCain has managed to keep a reputation (at least among the media) for being a mavericky statesman, as for the past two decades his record is one of toeing the Republican Party line.

To many bankers, these are just details to be overlooked. Most people evicted from their homes have not been paying their mortgages, and, in most cases, those who are throwing them out have rightful claims. But Americans are not supposed to believe in justice on average.

And if you can decide that he shouldn’t have the same rights we would give to the man who shot President Reagan, or to serial killers, or to Bernie Madoff, then the precedent that you set can some day end thusly:

Some day, for some reason, somebody will be able to arrest you, Mr. McCain, and declare that you are not entitled to your Miranda rights, and that perhaps you should be tried by a military court.

While you pander to a group that tries to dress up its bitching about paying its fair share of taxes as “the government is taking away freedom,” you propose that the government should take away… freedom.

You shame yourself in the eyes of American Patriots, and in the eyes of your fellow veterans who sacrificed, and the honored dead who gave their lives, to protect the freedoms and the laws you have today suggested should be optional!

For practical purposes, the law is not the same for everyone. Shoplifters with public defenders do not face the same odds as Wall Street banksters with $1500-an-hour defense lawyers.

Nevertheless, a thread in the story of America has been the struggle to make the law the same for everyone; now, at least, that shoplifter does get a public defender.

To rip that thread from the fabric of the story for some would be to do so for all.

Which makes it all the more reprehensible that John McCain and Sarah Palin would single this man out, holding him up as an object of hatred as the crowds they had whipped into a frenzy cried, “Kill him!” The McCain-Palin ticket may be history, but the rage it unleashed lives on.

“Now that the campaign is over, have the death threats stopped?” (interviewer Terry–ed.) Gross asked Ayers.

“Escalated,” Ayers replied.

“Why, do you think?”

“I’m not sure,” Ayers said, “but I’ve gotten a lot of threats that talk about civil war and the fact that we now have a socialist government and that the war is on. And I send all of these threats to the police because I don’t know how to handle them”.

By the time Sen. John McCain’s presidential bid was in full swing this summer, the ranch had wireless coverage from the two cellular companies most often used by campaign staff — Verizon Wireless and AT&T.

Verizon delivered a portable tower know as a “cell site on wheels” — free of charge — to Cindy McCain’s property in June in response to an online request from Cindy McCain’s staff early last year. Such devices are usually reserved for restoring service when cell coverage is knocked out during emergencies, such as hurricanes.

GRAPHIC: After a request from Cindy McCain, Verizon Wireless proposed installing a cell tower close to the couple’s home near Sedona, Ariz.

In July, AT&T followed suit, wheeling in a portable tower for free to match Verizon’s offer. “This is an unusual situation,” said AT&T spokeswoman Claudia B. Jones. “You can’t have a presidential nominee in an area where there is not cell coverage.”

H/T Karen for the link.
So, just what do you think would have happened when you called up Southwestern BellCingular AT&T or Verizon and said, “Look, I don’t get any cell phone coverage here at my place. Can I have my own cell tower?”

Think they would have said, “Sure! Here! It’s on the House Senate. Just tell us where you want it”?

The ad also misquotes Obama. It says he defended himself against the “most liberal” rating by saying “they’re not telling the truth” and “folks are lying.” Actually, Obama said McCain and Palin weren’t truthful about the “Bridge to Nowhere,” and he was correct. And his “folks are lying” remark referred to anti-abortion groups that accuse him of favoring “infanticide” because of votes he cast in the Illinois state Senate.

After twisting Obama’s words, the ad accuses him of being “not presidential.”

Of course, believing that Fannie Mae and Freddy Mac, rather than criminally negligent and even some fraudulent practices by banks and mortgage companies, mortgage brokers and real estate salespersons, is convenient for Republicans, because it absolves their failed stewardship of governance from responsibility for what happened.

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